


Goodbyes

by EmilyweepsforPilfrey



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Those of you who know me should know what to expect by now, Vaguely Smutty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 15:53:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8496199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilyweepsforPilfrey/pseuds/EmilyweepsforPilfrey
Summary: Katniss and Haymitch say their goodbyes.AU of the 75th Hunger Games. Established Hayniss.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a prompt challenge on Tumblr.  
> Aprylynn sent me the prompt 'Hayniss - Goodbye'. 
> 
> I've also got a Hayniss multichapter in the works that's not as angsty as this. If anyone's interested in reading it, let me know and that might inspire me to actually get it finished.

 

**The first time he sa** **ys** **_I'll see you soon_** **.**  

With Katniss seated on his lap, naked, his hands guiding her hips as she moves atop him, he can't find the words to tell her. In this brief moment of privacy they have somehow managed to find, he doesn't know how to tell her how much he hurts, how angry he is that they're sending her in there again. He can't find the words. He can only show her, burying himself inside her over and over again, lips at the crook of her neck, giving her one last happy moment to take into the arena with her. 

Her hair's falling out of her signature braid and covering her face. He brushes it behind her ear, hopes she can see how much this means to him, how much she means, because he doesn't know how to say it anymore. He meets her eyes, wants to tell her how he feels, let her know she's loved. There'll be time for that later; this isn't goodbye. 

Silent tears roll down her cheeks. He wipes them away with the pad of his thumb. He might cry, but he doesn't think he can anymore. She cries for both of them, for the injustice, for her life, for his, for the Games. For everything she's leaving behind.  

He doesn't say goodbye. She's not going away forever. He'll see her soon.  

 

**The second time he sa** **ys** **_farewell_** **.**  

It's only a brief moment, a last farewell between a mentor and his tribute. Surrounded by cameras, Peacekeepers and the rest of their team, it isn't the time nor place for the goodbye they should have, the parting words they need.  

He hugs her, holds her close. He can't say what he wants to in public, can't give her the departing kiss she deserves, but he gets this brief moment.  

With his hand reaching up to stroke her hair, he whispers in her ear that she can win this, she can come back to him. She's a fighter and he knows it. She needs to know it too. She needs the reminder because she's all but given up. She needs to be reminded of how he'll crumble if she loses, how he'll go back to the bottle that she's replaced in his life, how he'll drink himself to death and not regret it for a second.  

He reminds her, whispering in her ear, begging over and over again until he knows it's sunk in.  

_Come back to me. Come back to me. Come back to me._  

She nods. Promises.  

With a last brush of his lips against her hair, they part.  

He says farewell, because it's not goodbye and she'll be back in his arms before long.  

 

**The third time he sa** **ys** **_goodbye_** **.**  

It's inevitable, really. A long time coming. In hindsight, he doesn't know how he could have imagined it playing out any other way. The only consolation is that it's quick, the briefest of seconds.  

He watches on as, in a cruel twist of irony, the arrow pierces straight through her neck. It's swift, but not painless. The arrowhead is sharp, her flesh soft. Her blood is sticky and wet, oozing. She doesn't even have time to process the feeling. There's an involuntary gasp, her eyes wide with terror, then she drops to the ground in a crumpled heap of last breaths and regret.  

The canon booms.  

The career from 2 has won.  

He watches as the cameras pan away from her body, the last he'll ever see of her.  

"Goodbye, Katniss," he whispers, hand reaching out to the screen as if he could touch her one last time.  

A silent tear rolls down his cheek.  

He drinks the Capitol dry that night.  

Effie finds him the next morning, skin purpling and lips pale. His heart never to beat again.  

_Goodbye, Haymitch._  


End file.
